The Best and Worst Part of Saving the World
After Percy returned to Sirius, Sirius took him to Half Blood Hill where the others should've already arrived.
The plan had been that the moment they were caught, they would immediately be sent back to England, where they would surely be punished.
Let's just say… probably for all eternity.
Percy and Sirius had to wait a couple of hours at the agreed meeting point for the others to arrive, since they had used Floo connectors to travel.
And during those hours Sirius was clearly enjoying teasing Percy about what kind of punishment Sally might give them.
Or telling stories about the time he and James, Harry's father, escaped on an adventure into an ancient pyramid and accidentally awakened a mummy that, had it escaped its prison, could've caused a massive plague across the entire world.
But luckily, the two of them managed to stop it.
Though afterward James' mother, Grandma Euphemia Potter, who was now a portrait together with her husband inside Percy and Harry's house, punished them with a spell that hung them by their ears for hours.
Making their ears look like those of legendary elves for months.
The only thing that accomplished was making Percy fear a little more what kind of punishment his mother might impose on them.
Though he knew she probably wouldn't be capable of something like that.
But Aunt Mor's bad influence was still inside the house.
And she was definitely just as furious and absolutely capable of doing it.
Luckily the others arrived before nightfall and reunited with them.
Though visibly exhausted.
Fortunately, for some reason, there had been no monster attacks.
But that wasn't surprising.
Because according to what Hades had said, a certain goddess had gone off to find the Mother of Monsters for what was perhaps going to be a small conversation.
Normally the group would've left Grover and Annabeth at camp and then immediately departed.
But Sirius said he had to settle a few matters with magical law, since he had no desire to become an international criminal.
So the adults took pity on Percy and Harry for a moment and allowed them to stay at Camp Half Blood so they could at least have a celebration for surviving that dangerous mission.
Though obviously they couldn't decide that completely on their own.
So it became Percy and Harry's duty to convince their mother to let them stay there at least one or two days.
Otherwise the knights would simply grab them and drag them back home.
Something Percy and Harry were pretty sure would actually be easier than facing their furious mother.
Which was especially terrifying because it almost never happened.
The group of adults left them at the entrance of Camp Half Blood since they themselves could not enter.
But not before warning them not to run away again because this time they wouldn't even be given the chance to take a single step outside.
Especially Professor Gema, whose threatening look made it seem like she'd personally guard the camp until they returned home.
Perched in the trees for hours if necessary.
After separating from the others, Percy, Harry, Grover, and Annabeth finally entered the camp together while letting out sighs of relief upon realizing that, after arriving here alive and in one piece, both of their missions had finally ended.
When the other campers saw them arrive, everyone turned to look at them.
Watching them like they were true heroes.
And without knowing who started first, applause broke out.
Then the others began clapping too until eventually loud excited cheers filled the surroundings while the campers celebrated the group that had not only saved the world from a war, but completed two quests in a single journey.
Everything for the celebration had already been prepared.
Maybe the fact that the world still existed was already enough of a sign.
Chiron smiled proudly and nodded toward the group, even lowering his head slightly in greeting.
His gaze practically said: "Well done."
"Yes, yes, alright," Mr. D cut in, cutting off the congratulations from the campers surrounding the group while trying to hear stories about their adventure. "New heroes have been born. Hooray," he said in such a bitter tone that it sounded like even congratulating them caused him physical pain.
Even the word hero came out filled with disdain, as if simply pronouncing it gave him nausea.
"Exactly what we needed. More arrogant people," he added with obvious annoyance and was even about to say something much worse, completely ruining the atmosphere around them.
But before he could, suddenly a can of Diet Coke appeared in front of him.
And from his expression, it was obvious he hadn't summoned it himself.
He even glanced suspiciously at the can out of the corner of his eye.
Before raising his hand and grabbing it.
And opening it with a soft "tss…"
When the can opened, the smell of the liquid inside spread around all the campers. The scent alone made several campers feel dizzy, almost drunk.
Percy, Harry, Annabeth, and Grover, who had already experienced this sensation before, managed to endure it a little better.
And they exchanged looks after recognizing the feeling.
Dionysus' entire expression changed completely.
"Good… good. You all have every snack you need for the party. How about a few more balloons? Better yet, just this once I'll allow you all to have a bite of ambrosia even if you're not injured so you can enjoy yourselves. But don't eat too much; we don't want you bursting into flames," Dionysus said, completely transforming into a different person all over again.
And without hesitation he left everything else to Chiron and practically shot off at full speed, surely to enjoy every last drop of his…
"Diet Coke."
Chiron let out a small sigh after seeing this, but pretended not to notice anything.
And he gestured toward the dryads, who already had the dishes prepared for the celebration, signaling them to start serving.
And just like that, the party began.
…
The moment the celebration ended, the completely exhausted Harry and Percy returned to Cabin 3.
Of course, Harry, as the son… or rather grandson of Hecate, technically didn't belong in the same cabin.
But he was the only one with special permission from Poseidon himself to share it with Percy.
So nobody would dare say anything about it.
Both of them were exhausted from the party, all the shouting, and being dragged all over the place by the Hermes cabin guys and the kids from the unofficial Hecate cabin, but they still had to survive the most dangerous part of all.
Calling home.
"Well Harry, last time…"
"No," Harry cut him off before he could even finish. Sabotaging any possible argument his brother was about to make in order to force him to be the first one to speak to their mother.
"That's why you're a pig Potter," Percy muttered irritably while looking around the cabin when suddenly his expression shifted into complete confusion. "Huh?" he said while staring at one of the walls.
"What is it?" Harry asked, following his gaze until it stopped on a fireplace that obviously had not been there before.
And if it had been there earlier, they definitely would've noticed it, because it was an enormous fireplace covering a huge section of the wall.
But the strangest part was that if you weren't staring directly at it, it somehow went completely unnoticed at first glance.
As if it naturally camouflaged itself from people's sight.
Its design was fairly simple.
Brickwork matching the walls of Cabin 3.
And even ocean themed decorations mixed together with runic carvings glowing faintly.
"A fireplace connected to the Floo Network?" Harry said, recognizing it immediately, since during the mission they had seen all kinds of fireplaces.
Harry and Percy completely forgot about calling their mother and immediately started inspecting the fireplace from every angle.
Inside and out.
It was exactly what they thought it was.
"But I thought Alabaster and the others said they couldn't connect the Floo Network because of the camp's defenses," Harry muttered in confusion.
But Percy merely shrugged, not knowing how to answer that.
At that moment, certain words returned to Harry's mind.
"Your grandmother asked me to give this to you. She said that with this, you'll be able to stay closer," were the words Hades had spoken when saying goodbye to them.
Harry's eyes widened and he quickly rummaged through his magical bag until pulling out the tiny jar containing the black flame no larger than a fingernail.
And without hesitation, he uncorked it.
The instant he did, as if the flame had a will of its own, it flew out of the jar and circled around as though searching for something before stopping midair directly in front of the fireplace.
Then it shot straight toward it.
The flame entered the fireplace, causing black fire to burst to life while the runes carved throughout the fireplace shone intensely for a moment.
And with a "snap," the flame disappeared completely and the runes stopped glowing.
Immediately afterward, everything fell completely silent.
"And what was that?" Percy asked while staring at the fireplace, which hadn't visibly changed at all, then looking back toward Harry.
"No idea," Harry said slowly while examining the fireplace without finding anything unusual.
"Maybe it's just a joke from Ha…" before Percy could finish what he was about to say, he shoved his hand where the flames should have been, waving it through the air inside.
But Percy froze on the spot the moment he saw his hand disappear entirely.
Purely on instinct, he yanked it back out.
And it reappeared immediately.
Percy showed slight panic while quickly checking his hand to make sure it was still intact.
Meanwhile Harry watched silently, then his gaze shifted toward Percy's hand before returning to the fireplace.
Harry barely thought about it before walking closer.
"What are you about to…?"
Percy watched Harry's movement before widening his eyes in shock when he saw Harry stick his head into the fireplace and have it disappear completely.
But Harry immediately pulled his head back out again with an expression bordering on panic.
"What happened? What did you see in there?" Percy asked after seeing Harry's face, still somewhat pale.
"You should probably see it for yourself," Harry said looking like he'd just seen a monster.
Percy looked at his brother and hesitated for a moment.
But Harry kept urging him forward with his eyes, as if he planned to drag Percy in himself if necessary.
So Percy had no choice but to slowly stick his own head inside, while Harry also shoved his head back in beside him, swallowing nervously.
Percy closed his eyes briefly while feeling as though he were passing through some invisible veil.
Then slowly opened them again.
His eyes widened in surprise.
And then turned into fear.
When he saw two women standing there with crossed arms staring directly at them.
Watching both of their heads sticking out from the fireplace on the other side.
"Mo… mo… mo… Mom. Aunt Mor," Percy stammered and instinctively, just like Harry before him, tried pulling his head back out again.
But Mor moved first.
And suddenly grabbed both of their heads with her hands.
Neither of them could struggle free while they watched their bodies being dragged out of the fireplace by Aunt Mor.
Right beside Sally, who had been waiting for them in the living room the entire time.